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ViewCuddly Knut
Berlin Zoo's abandoned polar bear cub Knut looks cute, cuddly and has become a front-page media darling, but an animal rights activist insists he would have been better off dead than raised by humans.

THE Berlin zoo is under pressure to explain the fate of hundreds
of animals which have vanished amid claims they were slaughtered
and in some cases turned into potency-boosting drugs.

Claudia Hammerling, a Green party politician, backed by several
animal rights organisations, alleges the zoo's director, Bernhard
Blaszkiewitz, sold the animals.

She claims to have evidence that four Asian black bears and a
hippopotamus were transported to the Belgian town of Wortel, which
has no zoo, but which does have an abattoir.

According to Ms Hammerling these animals were slaughtered. She
said the systematic "overproduction of animals" at zoos, designed
to attract more visitors, was to blame.

Ms Hammerling said she also knew of several tigers and leopards
from Berlin that ended up in a tiger breeding farm in China that
promoted itself as a purveyor of traditional potency-boosting
medicines made from big cats. She alleges the animals' remains were
turned into drugs.

Mr Blaszkiewitz, who became something of a personality after the
polar bear Knut was born at his zoo in December 2006, strongly
denies the charges. The bear's popularity bumped up visitor numbers
and profitability.

Responsible for 23,000 animals and credited with turning the
Berlin zoo into the city's most popular attraction, Mr Blaszkiewitz
believes his detractors are spreading "untruths, half-truths and
lies".

"The stories of slaughter have been invented. We only work with
respectable zoo dealers," he said.

He added that while animals were sent to China in the 1990s,
their transfer was approved by the federal office for nature
protection. Rearing animals was central to his work and visitors
should have the chance to observe the rearing process, he said.

He denied claims that money making was the motivating
factor.

However, at Nuremberg zoo, the deputy director, Helmut
Magdefrau, has been reported as saying: "If we cannot find good
homes for the animals, we kill them and use them as feed."

At Nuremberg recently an antelope was fed to caged lions as
visitors watched in outrage.

A spokeswoman for Ms Hammerling said the MP was prepared to
press charges over the Berlin zoo.

Prosecutors will soon announce whether the case goes to court.
The zoo has been unable to shake off the charge that it has been
encouraging animal births to boost visitors keen on "cute
offspring". The phenomenon has been labelled "Knut-mania", after
the cub became one of the biggest moneyspinning animals in history,
thanks largely to marketing offshoots.

Knut products now range from cuddly toys to credit cards. The
Nuremberg zoo now has its own celebrity polar bear cub, Flocke,
which ventured outdoors for the first time on Thursday.

■ The Australian black swan Petra, which made headlines by
falling in love with a swan-shaped pedal boat, had been building a
nest at Muenster zoo with a white swan called Bruce. But zoo
officials say Bruce has now left Petra - so they are planning to
reunite her with the pedal boat.

6040APhttp://www.smh.com.au/news/conservation/fluffy-flocke-flaunts-in-first-foray-outside/2008/03/28/1206207351288.htmlFluffy Flocke flaunts in first foray outsidetext/html-documenthttp://www.smh.com.au/news/conservation/addicted-to-love-knut-hogs-limelight/2008/03/26/1206207174480.htmlAddicted to love: Knut hogs limelighttext/html-documenthttp://www.smh.com.au/news/conservation/first-peep-from-crosseyed-cub-with-mad-mum/2008/01/16/1200419856074.htmlFirst peep from cross-eyed cub with mad mumtext/html-documenthttp://www.smh.com.au/news/conservation/unbearable-veras-deemed-a-mad-mother/2008/01/09/1199554697564.htmlUnbearable: Vera's deemed a mad mothertext/html-documenthttp://www.smh.com.au/news/conservation/germany-goes-wild-for-cubs-first-birthday/2007/12/05/1196812824759.htmlGermany goes wild for cub's first birthdaytext/html-documenthttp://www.smh.com.au/news/conservation/polar-bear-out-on-his-own/2007/07/09/1183833397751.htmlPolar bear out on his owntext/html-documenthttp://www.smh.com.au/news/conservation/baby-gorilla-treated-in-intensive-care-for-humans/2007/07/03/1183351158611.htmlBaby gorilla treated in intensive care for humanstext/html-documenthttp://www.smh.com.au/news/conservation/knut-death-threats-just-the-call-of-the-bild/2007/04/20/1176697046224.htmlKnut death threat's just the call of the Bildtext/html-documenthttp://www.smh.com.au/news/conservation/its-knut-a-good-sound/2007/03/30/1174761731623.htmlIt's Knut a good soundtext/html-documenthttp://www.smh.com.au/news/conservation/yan-yans-kaput-its-not-knut/2007/03/28/1174761552404.htmlYan Yan's kaput: it's not Knut!text/html-documenthttp://www.smh.com.au/news/conservation/knut-basks-in-limelight/2007/03/24/1174597936092.htmlKnut basks in limelighttext/html-documenthttp://www.smh.com.au/news/conservation/germans-go-jaja-over-cute-little-ball-of-fluff/2007/03/23/1174597882191.htmlGermans go ja-ja over cute little ball of flufftext/html-documenthttp://www.smh.com.au/news/conservation/hes-knut-your-average-bear/2007/03/22/1174153221886.htmlHe's Knut your average beartext/html-documenthttp://www.smh.com.au/news/conservation/kill-him-you-must-be-knuts/2007/03/21/1174153106086.htmlKill him? You must be Knuts!text/html-documenthttp://www.smh.com.au/news/conservation/kill-him-you-must-be-knuts/2007/03/21/1174153106086.htmlKill him? You must be Knuts!text/html-documenthttp://media.smh.com.au/?rid=26873Knut too cutetext/html-internalhttp://media.smh.com.au/?rid=27015Knut big businesstext/html-internalhttp://media.smh.com.au/?rid=27096Knut sized uptext/html-internalhttp://media.smh.com.au/?rid=27096Knut sized uptext/html-internalhttp://media.smh.com.au/?rid=27096Knut sized uptext/html-internal